SOFTBANK Holdings Leads Investor Group in $5 Million Funding of inquiry.com; World Wide Web Information Service, inquiry.com, Funded in Second Round by SOFTBANK, Crosspoint Venture Partners and Burr, Egan and Deleage.SAN MATEO San Mateo (săn mətā`ō), city (1990 pop. 85,486), San Mateo co., W Calif., on San Francisco Bay; inc. 1894. It is a commercial and retail center with some high-technology manufacturing. San Mateo, Spanish for St. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 1996--inquiry.com, Inc. today announced it received second round funding from SOFTBANK Holdings, Inc., Crosspoint Venture Partners, and Burr burr (bur) bur. burr n. Variant of bur. burr 1. a plant seed capsule carrying many hooked structures which catch in animal coats thus promoting dissemination of the plant. , Egan and Deleage. SOFTBANK, parent company of the largest U.S. publisher of computer magazines, Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., and investor in the popular Yahoo! Web directory, is Japan's largest computer magazine and software publisher. Established in June 1995, inquiry.com is the first site on the Web exclusively dedicated to building a resource-rich technical community devoted to the needs of software developers and information technology professionals. Gary Rieschel, senior vice president of SOFTBANK Holdings, Inc. stated, "Our investment in inquiry.com represents SOFTBANK's strategic initiative to promote growth in best of breed Web companies. inquiry.com has focused on cultivating the core of SOFTBANK's audience, information technology professionals, and is poised to capitalize on Cap´i`tal`ize on` v. t. 1. To turn (an opportunity) to one's advantage; to take advantage of (a situation); to profit from; as, to capitalize on an opponent's mistakes s>. the accelerating growth of the Web and the Internet." Commenting on the announcement, Reed Taussig, president of inquiry.com, said, "We are very pleased to have been funded in the second round by all of our investors. Crosspoint and Burr, Egan, and Deleage have continued their commitment and active relationship with inquiry.com, while SOFTBANK brings many new synergistic synergistic /syn·er·gis·tic/ (sin?er-jis´tik) 1. acting together. 2. enhancing the effect of another force or agent. syn·er·gis·tic adj. 1. components to the company. These investments validate To prove something to be sound or logical. Also to certify conformance to a standard. Contrast with "verify," which means to prove something to be correct. For example, data entry validity checking determines whether the data make sense (numbers fall within a range, numeric data our business of providing information of serious quality and quantity on the World Wide Web (WWW WWW or W3: see World Wide Web. (World Wide Web) The common host name for a Web server. The "www-dot" prefix on Web addresses is widely used to provide a recognizable way of identifying a Web site. ) and demonstrate the tremendous potential that inquiry.com's pay on delivery lead generation model represents." "Aside from the fact that inquiry.com has a solid and unique Internet business model, the company offers a valuable service to the IT community which is the core of SOFTBANK's customer base," said Ron Schrieber, chairman and co-chief executive officer of SOFTBANK's majority owned subsidiary UCA&L. "We intend to develop this synergy The enhanced result of two or more people, groups or organizations working together. In other words, one and one equals three! It comes from the Greek "synergia," which means joint work and cooperative action. with inquiry.com into a strategic and differential marketing advantage that will benefit both companies." About inquiry.com inquiry.com is the premier technical resource on the World Wide Web (WWW) for software developers and information technology professionals. Featured on inquiry.com is one-stop access to a large concentration of quality, published information about software products, technologies, and vendors that is available nowhere else on the World Wide Web (WWW). inquiry.com's World Wide Web (WWW) information service was designed to lighten light·en 1 v. light·ened, light·en·ing, light·ens v.tr. 1. a. To make light or lighter; illuminate or brighten. b. To make (a color) lighter. 2. the labor-intensive burden of today's software professionals, who often spend many hours researching all aspects of a software package in order to evaluate it for purchase. Through offering this service, which is completely free to the end user, inquiry.com generates highly targeted sales leads A sales lead is the identity of a person or entity potentially interested in purchasing a product or service, and represents the first stage of a sales process. The lead may have a corporation or business associated with the person(s). on the Web by connecting buyers of information technology with the vendors, system integrators See systems integrator. , and value-added resellers A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that adds some feature(s) to an existing product(s), then resells it (usually to end-users) as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution. who sell it. Phil Ressler, vice president, marketing of Continuus Software Corporation, a software vendor and customer of inquiry.com commented, "inquiry.com has created a uniquely productive information service targeted at the core of the software development community. The result has been that we have reached new and qualified customers at a fraction of the cost of our traditional lead generation methods." More Information More information about free access to inquiry.com or sponsoring a vendor category on inquiry.com can be obtained at inquiry.com inc., 2655 Campus Drive, Suite 120, San Mateo, CA 94403, Telephone: 415/655-2828, FAX: 415/655-2820, E-mail: info@inquiry.com, Web address: http://www.inquiry.com. -0- Note to Editors: inquiry.com is a trademark of inquiry.com. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. CONTACT: inquiry.com Dave Wagner, 415/655-2828 dwagner@inquiry.com or Simon/McGarry PR Sandra McBride, 408/746-0911 smmcbride@aol.com |
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